Cheap Countertop Update

Find out how to update your countertops on the cheap. Get tips on relaminating the countertops using contact cement to adhere the new layer.

LESLIE: Chuck in Arkansas needs some help with a countertop[1] situation, I guess? What’s going on at your place, Chuck?

CHUCK: Yes, ma’am. We have some old countertops that are outdated and I’m just trying to decide whether or not it would be better off for me to actually hire somebody to do that or if it’s a project that me and my brother could tackle ourselves.

TOM: What kind of countertops are they?

CHUCK: Laminate countertops.

TOM: OK. So you actually, Chuck, could relaminate[2] these tops if you’re looking for something – an easy way to replace them to save some money. If you pull them out of the kitchen – if you take out the sink, pull out all the plumbing, anything that’s attached into them, get them out on some sawhorses – you actually can put a second layer of laminate – whatever that is, whether it’s Wilsonart or Formica. You could put that right on top of the existing layer.

And I would do probably the countertop first and the splash second. And there’s a special router bit that actually trims the laminate so it all comes out nice and clean and square. And you use contact cement for adhering the one layer to the next. So I think that that’s an easy solution; it’s a definite do-it-yourself project[3].